The Beginning of a New Age
by Kristin Hulett
Summary: The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted. A kind of sequel to Immortal Miracles.
1. Prologue

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Prologue: The Characters**

**New Characters:**

Megan Elizabeth Summers - Buffy and Angel's first child. She is 14 years old, with dark brown hair, about shoulder length in a blunt cut, and large green eyes. Some of her friends call her Cat because of her looks, which are very striking. She is petite, like her mother, and even as a freshman in high school, she is chased after by boys. However, she has what her parents call her "Cordelia complex" because of her tendency to not accept any of the offers. She doesn't know much about her parents' history, and her favorite adult is her "Aunt" Willow. She is defiant of authority and likes doing things her way except with her parents and the rest of the Scooby Gang.

Felicity Renée Summers - Buffy and Angel's second child. She most resembles her mother, with light brown hair and green eyes. Her personality is a little more subdued, like her father, even at six years old. She idolizes her big sister and tries to follow her everywhere. She is a favorite of her "Uncle" Xander. She is more athletic than her sister, and that makes her mother worry about the future. Felicity loves to swim and her father was forced to teach her how, so she wouldn't drown. Secretly, Angel likes her the best of all his kids.

James Alexander Summers - Buffy and Angel's one-year-old son. He is usually called Jamie, and is practically a miniature Angel. He has dark brown hair and dark eyes and broods, if you could say a one-year-old broods. Otherwise, he is your typical happy baby. He toddles around slowly and Buffy has to watch him carefully so he doesn't get hurt. Buffy always wished that Jamie could have met Giles because it is funny to see a mini-Angel running around. He is undoubtedly her favorite.

Michael Gregory Harris - Xander and Anya's 14-year-old son. He resembles his father, with brown hair and hazel eyes. He is friends with Megan (he is the only guy she will let get close to her), but hates going over to her house because of Felicity's pet rabbit. He seems to have inherited his mother's irrational fear of rabbits, but has never dressed up as one for Halloween, which he only likes for the candy. He has his father's laid-back but hyper personality, but doesn't put himself down as much as Xander did in school. He suspects that something weird happened in his best friend's parents' past, but his parents won't tell him anything.

Christopher Bishop - Cordelia's boyfriend of about five years. He is a fairly good movie director (not big-time - "yet" as Cordy likes to say). He has somewhat longish black wavy hair and light blue eyes, and he is 40 years old. At work, he wears khaki pants and a white T-shirt with an unbuttoned, solid-colored button-down shirt on top. When he is hanging out with Cordy, he wears a T-shirt, generally solid-colored, and faded well-fitting jeans. He is fairly muscular, and about 6'4" tall. He knows about demons and everything through Cordy and Angel Investigations, which she still helps run.

Gabriella Finn - Riley's wife. She is 41 years old but looks younger. She has really long brown hair with dark blond highlights, and dark brown eyes. She usually keeps her hair in a French braid. She is a lawyer (a good one), and helps Riley out occasionally with government work. Gaby is one of Buffy's friends but doesn't quite have Scooby Gang status. She lives with Riley in LA, and sometimes they help Angel Investigations out. A while back, she tried to get Wolfram and Hart closed down, but failed, so now she is one of their enemies.

Jacob Travers - Quentin Travers's son. He is 45 years old and in the Watcher's Council. He has light brown hair cut very short, and cold gray eyes. He is a lot like his father - very by-the-book methodical. He does not exactly appreciate having to work with Jeff Giles.

Jefferson Giles - Rupert Giles's son with Olivia. Obviously, he is part black. He has light brown skin, dark brown curly hair, and dark chocolate brown eyes. He never really got to know his father, since he was in England while Giles was in California. In fact, Giles never knew he had a son. Jeff is 20 years old, young to be in the Watcher's Council, but he is really smart. He went to Oxford at 16, and trained to be part of the Council like his father at the same time. He was told he was going to work with Jacob Travers this year. Jeff has an upbeat, unique way of looking at life; even with demons and everything, life is great.

Victoria Reynolds - the current Slayer. She is 16 years old. Vicky (as very few people call her: her Watcher, Buffy, and Angel) looks Irish. She has waist length red hair, slightly wavy, and bright green eyes. She is cynical, but probably no more so than any other 16-year-old forced to spend her nights killing evil in the 21st century. She is apparently from New York, due to her accent, but currently travels between LA and Sunnydale when evil pops up. She is actually a millionaire, because her parents were killed in a car accident shortly before she was called. Currently, she is under the guardianship of her Watcher, Nicholas Price, and he has control over her money. Most of her Slaying tactics she learned from Buffy after she moved to Sunnydale. She is enrolled at the high school, and is on the outer rim of Megan's group of friends.

Nicholas Price - Victoria's Watcher. He is 36 years old, with dark auburn hair and light brown eyes. He is no relation to Wesley. He is a Californian, who grew up in San Francisco and lived there until he joined the Council when he was 25. He is good friends with Buffy, Angel, and the rest of the Scooby Gang. He knows the history of the group, through reading Giles's Watcher's journals, which Buffy lent to him. He doesn't really know what to do with Victoria's money, because he came from a middle-class family, and the only money of hers he has spent was to buy an apartment for them close to Buffy and Angel's house. He is also friends with Jeff Giles.

**Old Characters, New Situation:**

Buffy Anne Summers - Buffy married Angel in 2003, right after graduating from UC Sunnydale. They eventually had three kids: Megan in 2006, Felicity in 2014, and James, or Jamie, in 2019. They continued to live in Sunnydale. When Buffy turned 25, the Watcher's Council let her officially retire. She was pregnant at the time. After Megan was born, Buffy took a job as an assistant principal at the newly built high school near the ruins of the old high school. By the time she was pregnant with Felicity, she was promoted to principal. She became determined to erase the memory of Principal Snyder, the Nazi. When Felicity was born, the family had to move to a larger house, so they moved into the so-called better part of town. She also continued to help the current Slayer and Watcher. She grew her hair out and let it go back to its original light brown color.

Angel - Angel married Buffy in 2003, three years after he became human. He took her last name officially, but hardly anyone calls him by it, except for official government-type suits. He continued to go to LA to oversee Angel Investigations every two months until Megan was born. Afterward, he opened an antique book store, since he knew a lot about them. He also became a tutor for several different foreign languages. He got called to be an interpreter almost every time a person from a foreign country visited. He earned a lot of money doing these jobs, and, along with the money he accumulated as a vampire, his family is very well off. He remains on call with Cordelia at Angel Investigations, but only goes to LA for major emergencies.

Special note: Buffy and Angel's house is not a mansion, exactly, but it has eight bedrooms. Each kid has their own room, so they have four guest bedrooms; one of which comes in useful when Cordelia comes to visit. They don't have servants, either.

Willow Rosenberg - Willow has remained a practicing witch. She is also still together with Tara. They officially live in San Francisco, since 2007. Willow is proprietor of a small shop dedicated to the occult up there. However, in 2010, after her parents' death, she inherited the house back in Sunnydale. She has kept her hair short, not past shoulder-length, and otherwise has not changed much since college. She frequently visits the gang in Sunnydale, and also has become friends with Oz again.

Tara - Tara is still with Willow. She acts as Willow's assistant at their shop in San Francisco, when they're there, and she is in charge of finding people to take care of the shop when they go to Sunnydale. She still doesn't exactly feel like part of the Scooby Gang, even though they all have accepted her.

Alexander (Xander) LaVelle Harris - Xander has matured a lot over the years. His appearance hasn't changed much; his hair is still slightly long, and otherwise, he has aged very little. He became less hyper after his marriage, and it seemed to disappear altogether after the birth of his son. He still lives in Sunnydale with Anya, but his circumstances have changed. He was so good at his job doing construction work that he kept getting promoted. His raises enabled him to buy an apartment in the same building as Victoria and Nicholas. Also, in 2009, he bought the Bronze, so now he is the proprietor of the popular club. Occasionally, during the week, he will work as the bartender, but most of the time, he is there with Anya, Buffy and Angel. He only lets Michael go if he is going to be there. He has started a new friendship with Cordelia, and likes her boyfriend.

Anya Emerson Harris - Anya married Xander in 2005. A year later, she gave birth to their son, Michael. She has gradually stopped making comments without thinking, but occasionally she blurts something out. She has seemed to assimilate to being a human, and has stopped wishing she has powers. However, she does enjoy that Xander owns the Bronze, and she can handle all the money. She doesn't officially have a job, but she helps Xander with the Bronze if necessary.

Riley Finn - After Riley broke up with Buffy in 2000, he ended up getting involved with the government again. A few years later, he met Gabriella, who was just starting out as a lawyer. He married her in 2006, two years later. They moved to LA because of her profession, and Riley got involved in the supernatural element of government work there. Occasionally he would end up working with Angel Investigations. He also has continued a friendship with Buffy and Angel.

Daniel Osbourne (Oz) - Oz couldn't come to Buffy and Angel's wedding, because nobody knew where he was. He found out about it eventually from someone connected to the Council who knew he was once part of the group. He continues to move around, doing odd jobs in various places for money, but he never stayed in one place long enough to get involved with anyone. He has started keeping in touch with Buffy, Angel, and Willow, through postcards. He has learned about the births of Megan, Felicity, Jamie, and Michael in this way.

Cordelia Chase - Cordelia has gotten a lot more down-to-earth since Angel essentially left LA and she was put in charge of Angel Investigations. She has continued doing the secretarial work there, while taking time off for auditions. It was at an audition for a commercial in 2014 that she met Christopher Bishop, who was visiting the audition to see if he could find anyone for a new movie. He ended up asking Cordy to take a role. He basically catapulted Cordy to, somewhat, stardom. She has never been in a big-name movie (just independent). A year later, they started dating. The last time the gang in Sunnydale saw Cordy (she had become friends again with Xander in 2005 before he married Anya), she had cut her hair chin-length for a movie, but otherwise she still had the same dark hair and hazel eyes.

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce - Wesley has remained the slightly nerdy, British demon hunter. He is still helping out with Angel Investigations, mostly in the research, scientific aspect, especially since he has grown older. He has never found anyone to date, mostly because he was too introverted to go out much. He remains in contact with Angel and has developed emotionally enough to be willing to die for any of his friends without second thoughts.

Charles Gunn - Gunn always remembered Angel helping him out. When he found out that Angel had left town, he figured out how to contact him and, through Angel, got involved majorly with Angel Investigations by being employed there. He has never forgotten his sister, and eventually found all the vamps responsible for her death, and got his revenge. However, he was also too busy with working with Angel Investigations and pursuing his vendetta that he never found a girlfriend.

Spike (William the Bloody) - Spike took a few years to get used to the chip in his head. Finally, he officially decided to join the fight against evil. He got beaten up a few times, by demons calling him a traitor, but he showed remarkable strength. He continued defending good. Even after he joined the "good" side, it took a while for the gang to accept him. After they finally accepted him as a helper, he then had to deal with the new Watcher and Slayer. He eventually proved himself an asset to the team. He continues to live in his crypt, and has a strange attachment to "supernatural" soap operas.


	2. Chapter 1

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part One**

early December, 2020:

"Megan! Felicity! Time to get up!"

Buffy stood at the top of the first flight of stairs, yelling at her two daughters. She finally hears Felicity's six-year-old voice respond.

"OK, Mommy. I'm awake."

"Thank you, Lissy. Megan! If you don't get up right now, I'll have to drive you to school!"

"No, Mom!!! I can't have you take me to school! It's bad enough you're the principal."

Buffy laughed quietly at her daughter's comment, then decided to rescue Angel, who was trying to feed Jamie. Even after having two other kids to take care of, he had never gotten a hang of raising a one-year-old.

When she got into the kitchen, the first thing she saw was Jamie in his high chair banging a spoon around. Then he saw her. "Ma-ma!"

"Yes, honey. Now try to be a little quieter, so you don't drive your daddy up the wall."

She turned and looked at Angel, sitting at the kitchen table with his head in his hands. Buffy sat down next to him.

"OK. What's the problem?"

Angel looked up. "I don't know what to feed him." He looked so pathetic that Buffy had to try not to laugh.

"Well, how 'bout I make some scrambled eggs and sausages. Jamie can have some of the eggs," She got up and got the ingredients out. "Why don't you make sure our daughters are actually getting dressed." Angel gets up and goes out the door, towards the stairs.

At that moment, Megan comes rushing in, dressed but still brushing her hair. She goes to the cupboard and pulls out a Pop-Tart. She puts it in the toaster as Buffy looks at her. "I'm making some eggs if you want some."

"Sorry. I don't have time." She finishes brushing her hair right when the Pop-Tart pops out of the toaster. She grabs the Pop-Tart, her backpack and jacket, and leaves the house.

Buffy is still just standing there, halfway through making the eggs, when Felicity comes bouncing into the kitchen. She is wearing mismatched clothes and her shoes are on the wrong feet. By this time, Angel is back in the kitchen, too.

Buffy responds to Felicity's outfit. "Felicity, did you dress yourself?"

"Yes. Mommy. Megan said she was too busy to help."

"OK, how about I go up and help you choose something that matches." Then she turns to Angel. "Can you finish the sausage?"

"Sure. I guess so." By the time he finishes speaking, the other two are already gone. Angel turns to the stove as Jamie decides to get the last word in.

"Da-da!" He continues to bang the spoon on his tray.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, everyone is dressed, and sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Between bites, Buffy starts a conversation.

"So, Angel. What're you going to do today?"

"Well, Nicholas asked if I could look in the "library" to make sure nothing is going to happen in the next couple weeks, and then I said I'd help Xander with the Bronze's business stuff. And at 3, I have a person coming for help in French." The "library" was in their basement, and consisted of most of Giles's books that they acquired after his death, along with a few others Angel has gotten since.

"OK, but if you do go downstairs, remember to keep an eye on Jamie. Put him in his playpen down there. I'll probably be home by 3:30. Can you try and figure out what we should have for dinner?"

"Sure."

"I want pizza." Felicity suggested.

Buffy turned to look at her daughter. "Lissy, you always want pizza. How 'bout something different?"

"'Kay!"

By this time, they are finished eating. Buffy stands up; she is dressed for work in a stylish business suit. She grabs her purse.

"Come on Felicity. Grab your jacket and school bag and I'll take you to school."

Felicity gets out of her chair and gets her stuff. She runs out to the car. Buffy follows at a slower pace, after she gives Angel a good-bye kiss. "See you later, honey."

"See you."

Buffy walks out the door to where Felicity is bouncing around in the passenger seat of her car. A few minutes later, they pull up in front of the elementary school. Felicity gets out of the car.

"Lissy, if Daddy or I aren't here to pick you up, either Uncle Xander or Aunt Anya will come to get you. OK?"

"OK, Mommy. Have fun at work."

"I'll see you this afternoon." With this, Buffy pulls out of the parking lot and heads towards the high school, while Felicity heads into her school.

* * *

Later that day, Buffy picks up her youngest daughter at school and heads to their house. On the way, they pass Megan, Michael, and some of their friends, also heading home from school. They don't try to offer them a ride since they know it will bother Megan.

Before they get onto their street, Felicity speaks. "Mommy, I need some new crayons for class tomorrow. I lost mine."

Buffy sighs. "OK, honey. But only this once. If you lose these, you're out of luck." She makes a U-turn and heads back towards the store.

About 45 minutes later, the two pull into the driveway at their house. They head to the door, and see Angel's pupil getting ready to leave. On the way out the door, the teenager says, "Hi, Mrs. Summers, Felicity."

Buffy just smiles, holding the door open for Felicity and her bag of crayons. After Felicity is inside and heads to the family room to do what little homework she had, Buffy finds herself enfolded in her husband's arms.

"Hey. How was work? Any "delinquents" today?" Angel says this last part jokingly, knowing how Snyder had thought of Buffy when she was in high school.

"Work was fine, and no. I think people respect me more than we did with Snyder. What's up here?"

"Not much. I looked to see if anything was coming according to the stuff we have downstairs; I couldn't find anything. Xander asked if we were going to show at the Bronze tonight, and Willow called."

"Oh? What'd she call for?"

"To say two things. One, she and Tara are definitely coming down for Christmas, and two, that Oz called her to say he'd come from New York for Christmas, too."

"Yeah, he was in New York right now. I forgot. But, hey, if they're all coming, why don't we invite the guys in LA to come, too, and make a big party out of everything."

"Are you sure you can handle having seven people visiting at once?"

"It could be worse. I can figure out a menu, and Willow, Tara and Anya can help me cook. And we won't have a problem with where everyone will stay. We have four guest bedrooms and a couch, and at least one person can stay at Willow's."

"OK, fine. I'll call LA." Angel leaves to go to the telephone in the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 2

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Two**

The entire extended Scooby Gang had arrived to celebrate the holidays. Buffy had planned a big party for Christmas Eve, and checked with Willow to make sure she wouldn't be offended. It was organized that Cordelia, her boyfriend, Oz, and Gunn would stay with Buffy and Angel, while Riley, Gabriella, and Wesley would stay at Willow's house.

However, that night the entire group descended on the Bronze to party with Xander and Anya, with the exception of Felicity and Jamie, who were home with a sitter.

"So, Cordy, how's LA these days?" Buffy asks.

"Well, there haven't been any big demon rulers or anything, which I guess you'd know since we haven't called to get help. I've been busy helping Chris make his movies."

"What about the rest of you guys?" Angel comments. "Not that what you've been doing isn't important, Cordelia."

Wesley answers. "I've been researching the minor demons we've fought, to be assured that nothing big is going to occur. Gunn has been taking care of the remaining vampires in the city, after he slayed the ones that killed his sister."

Gunn speaks up. "I think they are in hiding, too afraid to come out and bite anyone. By the way, who's out "doing security", since we're all here?"

"Well, Victoria is probably out patrolling with Nicholas, and Spike is probably out there, too." Buffy responds. Almost simultaneously, Angel asks if she wants to dance. They go to the dance floor, followed by Xander and Anya, and Cordelia and Christopher.

Around midnight, Buffy goes and finds Megan and Michael. "OK, guys. It's time to leave. You still have school tomorrow. Then it will be winter break, and you can stay out longer." After a few minutes of arguing, the two teens follow her back to the adults. The entire group heads out the door to walk home.

After Xander, Anya and Michael split off to go to their apartment building, Cordelia makes a comment to Buffy. "I still can't believe you have three kids. Although Jamie is really adorable."

They arrive at Buffy and Angel's house, and the people staying with Willow and Tara start getting into their cars to head over there. Megan goes immediately into the house. A couple minutes later, the adults follow her in. Angel pays the sitter, and she leaves to go home.

Fifteen minutes later, the adults all head up to their rooms. Buffy stops off to check on the kids, and then goes to her and Angel's room and goes to bed.

* * *

The next day, at school, Megan barely makes it through her classes because she is anxious about the start of winter vacation. Finally, the last bell rings and she is allowed to go home. She quickly stops at her locker to drop off her books, and heads off the school grounds.

Michael leaves his last class a few minutes after his best friend, due to an impromptu student-teacher conference about his grades. As a result, he misses Megan in her rush out of school. He ends up about ten feet behind her. He sees her crossing the street in front of the school, and a few seconds later he sees the car speeding towards her.

Michael breaks into a sprint towards Megan, yelling her name. She stops to see who is calling her. Michael launches himself into a flying tackle to collide with her, knocking her out of the way to hit the grass across the street.

By this time, the other students leaving school have realized what almost happened. One girl runs to get Buffy, knowing that Megan's her daughter. In a few minutes, she comes running out and stops by where the two teenagers are sprawled on the grass. Megan is starting to sit up, looking dazed, and Michael looks like he is in pain, with his left arm twisted underneath him.

Buffy and Megan help Michael get up carefully, favoring his arm, and they all go to Buffy's car.

"I'm taking you guys to the doctor, especially to check out your arm, Michael, and to make sure neither of you have anything majorly wrong with yourselves." Buffy says when she starts the car. "But first I'm calling your house, Michael, to tell your parents what happened." She pulls out her cell phone and dials the Harris apartment.

A few seconds later, Anya answers. "Hello?"

"Hi. Anya? It's Buffy. I'm calling to tell you that I'm taking your son to the doctor's."

"Why? What happened?"

"Apparently, Megan almost got hit by a car, and Michael knocked her out of the way. I don't think either of them actually got hit, but I think Michael landed on his arm. I figured I would tell you so you wouldn't be surprised when he gets home."

"They almost got hit by a car!!!"

"They're fine. I'll drop Michael off at home after we're done at the doctor's."

"OK. I'm glad they're not hurt badly. I guess I'll see you guys later."

"Bye."

Not long after this phone conversation ends, they pull into a parking space in front of the doctor's office. Buffy herds the teens into the waiting room.

About half an hour later, both of them are examined and they walk out of the building. Michael is wearing a cast on his left arm, which is the only visible wound on either of them.

A few minutes later, Buffy pulls up in front of the apartment building where Xander and his family live.

"I'm going up with you, Michael. Megan, you can stay here or come with us. I'm giving you the choice."

Megan decides to stay in the car while her mother and best friend go up to the apartment. Five or ten minutes later, Buffy returns to the car.

"I'm sorry. I had to explain that Michael's arm wasn't a life-threatening injury to Anya. Ready to go home now?"

Megan just nods, obviously too deep in thought to answer verbally. Buffy starts the car and they head home.

When they arrive, Angel meets them at the door.

"You're late! What happened? Are you all okay?"

Buffy answers. "We're fine. We just had a minor emergency. Did Felicity get home fine?"

"Yeah, I picked her up. What do you mean, a minor emergency?"

"I'll tell you, if you let us get inside the door to sit down."

* * *

Half an hour later, Buffy and Megan had told their story to the adults in the house. Angel is the first one to speak.

"I think we're staying in tonight. Cordy and you guys can go out if you'd like, but I think these two have had enough excitement for today."

Oz speaks up. "Do you think we should tell the others about this? I mean, I would want to be told about something like this if I was in their situation."

Buffy responds. "Yeah. I guess we should call Will. But I'm too worn out, so could someone else let her know?" The adrenaline that was a result of her fear for her daughter and her best friend had dissipated, leaving Buffy exhausted.

"I'll call her and then I'll call for some takeout, so you don't have to worry about cooking dinner." Angel replies.

Cordy adds. "I think we'll stay in tonight. We've already been to the Bronze earlier in the week and besides, it's no fun without a big group of people. And we can help clean up after dinner, too."

And so, the night was planned.


	4. Chapter 3

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Three**

A few days later, Megan was essentially alone in the house. She was babysitting for her little sister while everyone else was out doing some last-minute Christmas shopping. While Felicity was busy coloring some pictures from school, Megan decided to go down to the basement to work off her boredom on some of the exercise equipment her mother had down there.

While she was working out, she noticed the closed door to the room her parents called the "library." "What's in there? We have most of our books upstairs, so I wonder what's so special about this room."

She quietly turns the doorknob. The door was unlocked. Inside the room were some bookshelves filled with really old-looking books. There was a table with some other books on top of it. Megan walked over to the table and notices a slim book that looks comparatively newer than the other books, but still fairly old. She sits down in the chair that was pulled up to the table, and opens the book.

"This is the journal of Rupert Giles, Watcher."

* * *

Half an hour later, Megan had read the journal. She dropped it on the table and slowly left the room. She sped up slightly while going up the stairs. Once she got upstairs, she went to Felicity's room to check on her. Felicity was still happily coloring. Afterwards, Megan headed to her room and her phone.

"Hi, Mr. Harris. Is Michael there?"

"Yeah. Do you want to talk to him?"

"Yeah. Please."

A few seconds later, Michael was on the phone. "Meg? What's up?"

"Um. . . I found something in my house. Can you come over?"

"You found something ? What do you mean?"

"Well, you know how you always said my parents were hiding something? I think you were right."

"OK. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Megan went downstairs to wait. Five minutes later, Michael arrived. She led him down to the basement room and showed him the book. Twenty minutes later, Michael raised his head from the journal.

"Wow."

"I know."

"Vampires, monsters, demons, they're all real. I mean, I know our parents always told us they were, but I never really believed them. You know?"

"Yeah."

"Your mom fought them."

"I guess. At least, that's what this book says."

"And your dad was a vampire."

"But he's not now. I don't get it. The journal pretty much stops around the middle of my mom's senior year of high school, when it says the guy got fired. This Giles guy."

"Our parents are always talking about a guy named Giles. It must be the same guy."

"I don't know. I guess I'll have to ask my parents."

They get up and start heading upstairs. Halfway up the stairs, they hear voices. Megan hurries up to the door and puts her ear up close.

"I think they went upstairs."

They open the basement door quietly and slip out. They head towards the kitchen while Buffy is coming down the stairs.

"Michael! I didn't know you were here."

Megan turns around. "Oh, Mom! I thought I heard you come home. I called Michael a little while ago and asked him if he could keep me company since Felicity was up in her room."

Buffy becomes kind of suspicious, but decides to humor her daughter. "Oh, that's nice. How's your arm?"

Michael responds. "It's OK. I mean, it doesn't hurt as much anymore."

"That's good. Where were you guys? I didn't see you when I came in."

Megan responds quickly. "We were in the family room."

Buffy counters. "I didn't hear the TV."

"We were talking about what we thought we were going to be doing when school started again."

Buffy concedes, still aware that her daughter's hiding something. "OK. Well, it's getting late. Michael, you might want to head home so your parents don't worry about you."

"OK. Sure. Megan, call me later."

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye." Michael heads out the door.

"OK, Megan. What were you really doing?" Buffy asks once Michael has left.

Megan ignores the question. "Who exactly was Giles? And how come you never told me Dad used to be a vampire?"

"What?" Buffy says, surprised.

Megan just pushes past her mother on the stairs and keeps going up.

"Megan Elizabeth Summers! Get back her!"

Buffy only hears a door slam upstairs. Felicity comes out of her room.

"Mommy? What's going on?"

"Nothing, Lissy. Just go back in your room." Buffy sinks down onto the stairs in shock. She is still sitting like this when Angel gets home with Jamie.

Angel walks in the front door carrying Jamie. He immediately sees Buffy sitting on the stairs dejectedly. "Buffy? What's wrong?"

Buffy looks up at him, unshed tears shining in her eyes. She doesn't say anything.

"OK. Let me get this guy settled, and we'll talk about it." He heads toward the playroom to put Jamie down. When he returns, he sits down on the stairs next to Buffy.

"What happened?"

Buffy looks up. "Megan knows."

"Megan knows what?"

"Everything. She asked me about Giles, and why we didn't tell her you used to be a vampire."

"So how do you know she knows everything? If she asked questions, there must be something she doesn't know."

"I don't know. I'm scared, Angel. I feel like I can't protect her anymore."

"Do you even know how she found out whatever she did . . . find out?"

"No. She was home watching Felicity alone. Apparently Michael came over, but I know Xander and Anya wouldn't have said anything."

"OK. So how else could she have discovered anything?"

"I don't know. The basement, maybe? I know she's gone down there to use some of my equipment before."

"How about we go down and see if she went in the 'library'?"

"You go. I'm going to call Xander and make sure Michael got home."

"Sure." Angel gets up and heads for the basement, leaving Buffy at the stairs. Shortly afterward, Felicity comes back out of her room.

"Mommy? I'm hungry."

Buffy looks upward, composing herself quickly. "We'll eat as soon as everyone gets back, OK?"

Felicity comes downstairs. "Can I go play with Jamie?"

"Sure. He's in the playroom." Felicity runs off, and Buffy heads to the phone.

* * *

Angel walks slowly down the stairs to the basement. The first thing he notices upon arriving at the bottom is the open door to the "library." He heads inside and looks around.

A few seconds later, he sees the open book on the table. "I don't remember leaving any books open." He walks over and looks down at the pages the book is open to. He reads a few words, enough to identify the book. Then he closes the book and puts all the books that he had left on the table the last time he had been down here back on the shelves.

He picks up the journal and leaves, closing the door behind him. Then he heads back upstairs.

When he gets there, Buffy is standing outside the door, looking anxious. "Well, did you find anything?"

"Yeah. Does this look familiar?"

"Of course! That's Giles's journ . . ." Buffy trails off, eyes widening.

Angel continues speaking. "Someone had been reading it. Probably Megan. It would explain her questions."

"Yeah, it would."

At this exact moment, Cordelia, Christopher, and Gunn arrive back from shopping.

"We're back!" Cordelia cries while breezing through the door. Angel and Buffy jump, startled by the sound, and then head toward the front door.

"Hello? Is anybody here?" Gunn calls out, and then he is startled by Buffy and Angel's appearance in the hallway.

"Yeah, 'somebody' is home, although we have a crisis." Angel responds.

Chris is the first to speak. "What kind of crisis?" Everyone else is surprised, since this is one of the first times Cordy's boyfriend has spoken since they arrived from LA.

Buffy is the first one to speak. "Megan was home watching Felicity. She found Giles's journal and apparently read it. Now she won't leave her room."

Cordy speaks up. "Let me try and see if I can talk to her."

"OK. If you think it'll help." Buffy still seems distraught.

* * *

Cordy heads upstairs and stops in front of Megan's bedroom door. She knocks and there is no answer. "Megan. It's Cordelia. Can we talk?"

A voice floats out through the closed door. "No, not unless you're going to tell me the truth about why Mom didn't tell me about her and Dad's past."

"I honestly don't know why."

"Fine. You can tell her that I'm not leaving until I get an explanation."

Cordy heads back downstairs. "She says she won't come out unless she gets an explanation."

Oz has just stepped in the door when Cordelia returns downstairs. "Who won't come out until she gets an explanation about what?"

Angel answers while continuing to comfort Buffy. "Megan. She found out about our past and doesn't understand why we didn't tell her about it. She's locked herself in her room."

Oz thinks for a minute. "Why don't you call Will? Maybe she can get through to Megan."

Buffy looks up. "You think so?"

"It's worth a shot."

Angel decides that he'll take care of the call and tells his wife to check on Felicity and Jamie. Buffy slowly heads for the playroom and goes inside.

Angel picks up the phone and dials. After a few rings, the other end is picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Tara? It's Angel. Is Willow there?"

"Yeah. Would you like to speak to her?"

"Yes, please."

"Hang on."

A few seconds later, Willow's on the line.

"Hey, Angel! What's up?"

"We have a slight problem here."

"What? What kind of problem?"

"Megan's locked herself in her room and won't talk to anyone."

"Why? I mean, I'm not trying to pry or anything, but I'm wondering."

"She read Giles's Watcher's journals."

"Oh."

"Now, she thinks we lied to her by not telling her about our past."

"She didn't know?"

"No. Buffy wanted to protect her and let her live a normal life."

"In Sunnydale." The disbelief is apparent in Willow's voice.

"You know what I mean. If she had known, if we had told her she was the daughter of a Slayer and a former vampire, she might have thought she was different from all her friends."

"Did she know about Slayers, vampires, and everything else?"

"Yeah. She obviously knew that Victoria is the Slayer and Nicholas is her Watcher. And she knew Spike is a vampire, whether or not he is dangerous."

"OK. So she only didn't know about you, Buffy, and Giles."

"Yes. And now she won't leave her room, and we thought you may be able to get her out."

"OK. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Thanks."

Both people hang up the phone.

* * *

Willow shows up at the house as she said she would. She stops to talk to Buffy, who is, by now, trying to feed Jamie, and then heads upstairs to try and talk to Megan.


	5. Chapter 4

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary:**The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Four**

Willow gets to the door of Megan's room. "Hey, Megan! Can I come in?"

"Are you going to tell me why I was lied to?"

"I can tell you as much as I know, which I found out from your father."

"OK. Fine. You can come in, but only if you promise to tell me what he said."

"I promise."

Willow suddenly hears movement inside the room, and then the door opens a crack. She pushes the door, and when she meets no resistance, enters the room and politely closes the door behind her.

When she turns back around, she sees Megan curled up on her bed hugging a throw pillow, watching her. Megan indicates the desk chair and Willow sits down, pulling the chair a little way towards the bed.

"You said you'd tell me why they lied."

"Well, they never really lied. . ."

"They didn't tell me. In my opinion, that's like lying."

"They wanted to protect you."

"Protect me from what?"

Willow realizes she is not really getting through to the teenager. "OK. Let's try a different angle. When your mom was a teenager, especially when I knew her, the only thing she wanted was a normal life. But it was impossible for her to have one. She wanted you to have what she couldn't have."

"Why couldn't she have a normal life?"

Willow can now sense that Megan is softening her attitude. "Well, being the main defense for humankind, she had a hard time with school and dating; all the things a normal teen does."

"Dating?"

"The first guy to ask her out followed her when she had to cut their date short to slay a vampire. He ended up almost getting killed by an insane vampire. Your mom even had a hard time keeping your grandmother alive."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as you probably know, your grandmother was divorced from your grandfather."

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?"

"One of the first guys your grandmother got involved with turned out to be a homicidal psycho robot. One of her friends she met while your mom was gone ended up getting killed by a crazed zombie mob, and then got possessed by some zombie demon mask thing and almost killed all of us."

"While my mom was gone?"

"Oh. Well, the only half ways normal teen relationship your mom had was with your dad, even though he was a 246-year-old vampire with a soul. After her seventeenth birthday, he lost that soul; no, I am not going to tell you how or why. Anyways, he tried to bring about the end of the world. People died, your mom got expelled, I was in a coma, and the end of that was your mom had to send him to hell. After Xander, Oz, Cordelia and I had found a way to restore his soul. Afterwards, she left town, and was gone for a whole summer."

"Oh, wow. That's sad."

"Your mom had to live with being different. She didn't want you to have to think you were different from anyone else."

"Is she really mad at me?"

"She's more upset because she thinks she failed in trying to protect you. She's had a lot of disappointments in life, but she never thought she would hurt you."

"Can you tell her I'm sorry?"

"Why can't you tell her yourself?"

"I don't want to see her disappointed in me. Tell her I'll come down to eat, too."

"OK. Sure. Do you feel better, or at least less angry?"

"Yeah. Oh! I have to tell you. Michael knows about this. I don't want anyone else to get in trouble. He didn't have anything to do with this. I found the book myself. I'm the one who showed it to him."

"I think Xander can handle that crisis control." Willow smiles and heads out of Megan's room.

* * *

When she gets back downstairs, and into the kitchen, Willow sees Buffy looking at her expectantly. "What happened?"

"I talked to her. She says she's sorry and that she'll come down to eat."

"Sorry for what?"

"For disappointing you. Oh, and she told me that Michael knows, but it's not his fault."

"Why does she think she disappointed me?"

"I explained why you hadn't told her about your past. Then she asked if you were mad at her."

Megan is on her way down the stairs and hears this last statement. She stops to listen to her mother's response.

"Why would I be mad at her?"

"I don't know. Since she snuck around and read Giles's journal?"

"We never locked that room. I couldn't get mad at her for being curious."

At this, Megan continues walking and enters the kitchen. Cordelia is the first to see her enter. "Hey, Megan!"

"Hi." Megan is still a little cautious at approaching Buffy.

Buffy gets up and hugs her daughter. "I'm sorry we kept things from you. I thought it would make life easier."

"I know. Aunt Willow told me."

"Well, do you want to sit down and eat something?"

"Sure." Megan sits down, slowly getting more comfortable after everything she just found out.

* * *

Five days later, that Saturday night, is Buffy's Christmas Eve dinner. Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Michael are the first to arrive. Willow, Tara and Anya go and join Buffy and Cordelia in the kitchen. Michael heads upstairs to his best friend's room to talk to her about what happened over the last week.

By the time Wesley, Riley and Gaby arrive at the Summers residence, dinner is ready. Everyone sits down and eats. Afterwards, they all go into the living room to hang out and give each other a few presents that were brought in from the family room. The first person to stand up and pick up a present is Angel.

He heads towards Willow. "I know, we said we wouldn't get you anything, since you don't actually celebrate Christmas, but I got this and now is the most logical time to give it to you. Look at it as a late Hanukkah present."

"Thank you. You really didn't have to."

Before she can open it, Buffy stands and retrieves some small presents for Tara, Riley, Gaby and Wesley. "I figured I might as well give you guys your presents now. Xander and his family practically live here half the time, so I don't need to rush and give them their gifts. Although this doesn't mean you can't all come over and hang out tomorrow afternoon."

Willow starts showing some uncharacteristic impatience. Buffy notices and quickly sits down. Willow opens the present given to her. It turns out to be an antique spell book that she had mentioned she wanted a while back. She looks up in surprise. "How? Where did you find this?"

Angel answers. "Through my book store."

"But you closed that a few months ago."

"I sent away for this before I closed the store. I had it sent directly here."

"Well, thanks, guys. I don't think I have anything I can repay you with."

Buffy argues with her. "It's a gift, Will. You don't have to repay us."

Cordelia looks at the time. "It's way past time for Felicity and Jamie to go to bed."

Buffy glances at the clock. "You're right."

Willow stands up. "I guess we'd better go."

Buffy speaks. "I meant it when I said you guys can come over tomorrow. I can't guarantee we'll have food for everyone, but you can still come."

"Yeah, sure, but we'll call before we show up."

"OK."

Everyone says their goodnights and they go to their cars to head home. Buffy and Angel watch everyone leave, while Cordelia goes to the playroom to get the younger kids. When everyone gets off safely, the two close the door and turn around. Buffy goes after Cordelia.

"I can take care of the kids. Why don't you tell the guys that they can turn in for the night. Once I get the kids put to bed, I'm going to."

Cordy turns towards the living room, where Chris, Oz, and Gunn are. "Sure. But are you sure you can take care of things?"

"Yes, Cord. I've only had three kids. I think I can handle getting them to sleep." Buffy is clearly being sarcastic. She goes into the playroom, gets Felicity and Jamie, and heads upstairs towards their rooms.

Half an hour later, everyone in the house is asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Buffy and Angel are woken by Felicity bouncing excitedly on their bed.

"Mommy! Daddy! It's Christmas! Wake up!"

Angel turns to look at the clock. "Felicity, sweetheart, it's 6:00 in the morning. Why don't you go back into your room until everyone else wakes up."

"Why? I want to open presents."

Buffy responds to this statement. "Lissy, the presents aren't going anywhere. It'll be more fun if you wait for everyone."

"How?"

"Then everyone else can open presents at the same time."

"But I like being special."

Angel warns his daughter. "Felicity. You're starting to make us angry. We want you to listen to us."

Felicity starts pouting. "Fine. I'll go wait."

Buffy tries to console her daughter. "Honey, you're still special to us. We're just tired. We'll get up soon."

Felicity gets up. "OK." She is definitely lacking some of the excitement she had a few minutes ago. She heads out of her parents' bedroom.

Buffy turns to look worriedly at Angel. "She's upset."

Angel responds to the tone of her voice. "'Shh. Don't worry. She'll get over it. I bet that when we get downstairs, she'll have forgotten about it."

An hour later, they hear Cordy and Chris get up and go downstairs. Buffy and Angel decide to go down. When they get down to the kitchen, they meet Cordelia. Cordy quietly speaks, obviously trying not to wake anyone. "I'm making some coffee."

Angel good-naturedly teases her. "Has it gotten any better in twenty years?"

Cordy forgets that she was trying to be quiet. "Hey!" She immediately gets embarrassed. She says, a little quieter, "Oops."

Chris and Buffy are both watching the exchange in amusement. Then Chris decides to try and defend his girlfriend. "Come on, Cor, you know your coffee's good. I like it."

Cordy gets some of her fire back. "Yeah. As if you're much of a judge."

Chris just grins and turns to Buffy and Angel. "She thinks I have no sense of what good food is. And yet she stays with me."

Cordy just leaves the room. Seconds later, Gunn and Oz walk in. Gunn makes a comment. "What's with Cordy?" Oz sits at the kitchen table, while Gunn heads straight for the coffee.

Angel answers the question. "Oh, we were just teasing her. She'll be fine; you should know that by now."

True to word, a minute later Cordelia comes back into the kitchen, followed by Megan and Felicity. Megan is carrying Jamie. Buffy gets up and relieves Megan. "Was he awake?"

"Yeah. I heard you guys downstairs, so when I woke up I decided to check on him. He wasn't upset or anything. He was just looking at me."

Cordy walks over to Buffy. "Can I hold him?"

"Yeah, sure. I can get him his bottle while you hold him."

While Buffy is getting Jamie's bottle, Xander and his family walk in the kitchen door. Buffy greets them. "Hey! I knew you were going to show up, although I didn't think it was going to be this early."

Anya fields that comment. "Xander was even more excited to get up than I think Michael ever was. He got up at 5 a.m. We had presents done by 7."

Buffy is surprised. "We weren't even up by then! I mean, Angel and I were awake, but that was because Felicity was up at six. We didn't actually get out of bed until seven."

An hour and a half later, everyone is dressed and gathered in the family room by the Christmas tree to open presents. A little while later, almost all the presents are unwrapped. Felicity and Jamie are in the playroom with their new toys. Angel gets up and retrieves three of the four small presents that were still under the tree. First, he gives one of them to Megan.

Megan looks up at her father in surprise. She can't remember anything she had wanted that was this small. She slowly unwraps it. Inside the paper is a small black jewelry box. Even more confused, she looks up at her parents again. Buffy indicates that she should open the box. She obeys, and looks inside the box. Inside is a familiar looking, simple silver cross on a chain.

Buffy can tell that her daughter doesn't understand the gift. "Your father gave that to me the first time we met. We decided to give it to you, since you had to deal with finding out our past suddenly. It's for protection."

Megan looks at her mother with tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

Angel turns to Buffy and gives her one of the two presents he is still holding. "Open this one first."

Buffy takes the present. "OK." She can tell by the size that both of the presents are jewelry boxes. She opens the one given to her. Inside is a delicate silver filigree cross necklace.

"I figured, since we passed the first one that I had given you on to Megan, I should replace it."

Buffy starts to thank her husband.

"Wait. I want you to open both first." Angel hands her the other gift. This box is a little smaller than the first one. Buffy opens it. The jewelry box is found to contain a Claddagh ring made out of silver, and the heart is made out of a garnet.

Angel explains. "I figured this was perfect for you. There is the one obvious reason why, but the garnet is also your birthstone."

Now Buffy is the one to start crying. She gives Angel a hug. "They're beautiful."

Not wanting to be outdone, Chris jumps up and gets the remaining gift under the tree, which was from him. He walks over and gives it to Cordelia, and then sits down again.

Cordy opens the present. "Oh my God." She looks at it again and then looks up at Chris. The box held a ring made of white gold, and set with three diamonds, two smaller ones surrounding a larger one. "Does this mean what I think it means?"

Chris just nods. Cordy screams, and then, after a few seconds to compose herself, nods back.

Buffy, Angel, and the rest of the people in the room watch the exchange. Buffy breaks out in a grin. "Congratulations."

After a few more minutes, Megan and Michael decide that they want to go upstairs. Megan walks over to Buffy. "Mom? Michael and I are going up to my room to listen to some CDs. OK?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll tell you when Willow and everyone else get here."

The two teens head upstairs. The adults settle down to talk until the rest of the gang shows up.

They talk for about ten minutes, and then, suddenly, there is a knock at the front door. Everyone stops talking, confused. Buffy stands up slowly, wondering who it is at the door. All their friends would know to just walk in.

Eventually, she gets to the front door, aware that Angel is standing in the doorway leading to the family room, as interested in who is at the front door as Buffy herself is. She quickly glances at him before she opens the door, noticing that, behind Angel, everyone else is also waiting expectantly. Finally, Buffy turns around again and opens the door.

Standing on the doorstep are two men, one shorter than the other, and obviously older. This man is the first to speak. "Hello, Mrs. Summers? My name is Jacob Travers, and this is my associate. We are from the Watcher's Council."


	6. Chapter 5

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Five**

At the announcement of the two strangers, Angel moves forward to join Buffy at the door. "What can we help you with?"

The man introduced as an associate of Travers answers the question, in a friendly voice. "We have reason to believe something will happen soon. May we come in and sit down?"

Buffy recovers from her shock. "Yes. Please, come in." While they walk past her, she gets a good look at the younger, friendlier man. "Excuse me. Have we ever met?"

He turns around. "No, I don't think we have. This is my first time in this area of the country. Let me introduce myself. My name is Jeff. Actually, my full given name is Jefferson Giles. . ." He trails off when he notices that Buffy's facial expression has gone blank. "Are you OK?"

Buffy slightly shakes her head, as if to clear her mind. "Yeah. I'm fine. Excuse me for intruding, but are you related to . . .?" She trails off as well.

Jeff finishes her thought. "Your Watcher? Yes, I'm his son."

Angel speaks up at this. "I didn't know he ever had a son."

"I don't think he even knew. My mother certainly never told him that I existed. I never even met him. All I have ever known about him is his name, the fact that he was a Watcher, and that he was living here in California."

Cordelia had gotten up and stood in the doorway in time to hear Jeff's announcement that he was Giles's son. "Oh, how sad."

Buffy, at hearing Cordy's voice, remembers the other people in the house. "I'm sorry. I forgot I had guests. This is Cordelia Chase." She shows the two Watchers into the family room and makes the introductions.

Travers gets annoyed at this detour from the mission. "Can we get on with this?"

Angel responds. "You said that you thought something was going to happen."

Jeff intercepts the comment. "Yes. We recently found a series of prophecies that the Council thought referred to you, Buffy, and all your friends."

Buffy asks, "Should I call the rest of them and ask them to come over now, instead of later?"

Jeff answers. "That might be a good idea."

Buffy heads to the phone. Before she gets there, she makes a comment. "I'm going to call Nicholas and Victoria, too. They should know about this."

She gets to the phone. The first people she calls are the Watcher and the Slayer. Victoria picks up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Vicky? It's Buffy."

"What's up?"

"I'm sorry to call you on Christmas, but there're two men here from the Council that say something's up."

"Do you want us to come over there?"

"Well, we don't exactly know how big these prophecies are, but I'd rather be safe."

"Don't worry 'bout it. I'll tell Nicholas and we'll be over there in a few."

"Thanks." Buffy hangs up. She waits a couple seconds, then picks up the phone again and dials Willow. Five minutes later, everyone is alerted and on their way.

* * *

Within fifteen minutes, everyone that is involved is sitting in Buffy and Angel's family room. Everyone has been introduced, and now they are waiting to hear about the prophecies.

Travers is standing in the corner of the room, not pleased with how things are being handled. Therefore, Jeff is the one to start the discussion. "The Council found, in one of our routine searches, three prophecies."

Angel speaks. "I looked in the resources I have not long ago. I didn't find anything."

Jeff replies. "I'm sure you have good resources. I've heard that you were the one who retrieved the Codex. However, we have some texts that only exist in the copies the Council owns. We weren't even permitted to bring the texts here; we were given copies of the pages with the prophecies. Jacob, what did you do with them?"

"I have them in my bag, out in the car."

Nicholas speaks up. "Could we please see them?"

Travers grudgingly agrees, and goes out to get the papers from the rental car. Once he gets outside, Jeff looks at the group. "I apologize for his behavior. He doesn't really enjoy having to work with me."

Nicholas once again responds. "No problem, Jeff. You may have even heard this, but a lot of the Watchers think he got the job solely because of his father. He also probably doesn't like being told to work with someone 25 years younger than him."

Buffy remembers something. "Quentin never really liked Giles. Of course, I think the feeling was kind of mutual. Quentin was the one who fired Giles."

Jeff remembers the story about his father. "They said he was too close to you, right?"

"Yeah. He decided to tell me about my Cruciamentum after Kralik kidnapped my mother and killed his guards."

At this moment, they hear the front door open again. They stop talking, and a second later, Travers walks in and hands the copies to Nicholas.

He glances over the prophecies quickly, then looks up at Buffy. After a moment's consideration, Nicholas gets up and hands the papers to Angel.

Buffy is getting impatient. "Come on. Why don't you just read them out loud so the rest of us will know what's going on?" She leans back into the couch she is sitting on.

Angel, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep anything from his wife, slowly starts reading the first of the prophecies. "A time will come, that is not day or night, not one year or another, a score past the false millennium, when all forces of darkness will amass and all mortals will shudder."

Cordy is the first to speak. "OK. The apocalypse. I mean, that's what it says, right? We can handle it." Then, she turns to Chris, and, as if in explanation, continues. "We, or at least some of us, have survived what, like nine apocalyptic situations? I wasn't involved in all of them, at least not since I had gone to LA. That doesn't even count all the times people, speaking figuratively, have tried to kill us."

Buffy interrupts. "Thank you, Cordy, for that lovely speech." She doesn't notice Angel scanning the paper containing the second prophecy, looking increasingly worried.

Willow speaks. "That's New Year's Eve, right? Midnight?"

Jeff answers. "Yes. That would be how we interpreted the prophecy, at least."

Buffy finally looks at Angel again. "Angel? Would you please continue?"

Angel seems startled by her question. However, he haltingly reads the second prophecy, afraid of the response. "The eldest of the progeny of the Chosen One, once dead, now free, and the one who was formerly her immortal enemy will embody the balance between order and chaos, and will hold much power."

While the prophecy is being read, Buffy's eyes seem to get wider and wider. When Angel finishes reading, she only says one word. "Megan."

"What?"

At the voice, everyone in the room looks up in alarm. Oz is the first to speak this time. "How long have you been standing there?"

Megan answers from the doorway. "I just got down here. Michael and I were going to get something to eat." Suddenly, she notices the two men from the Council. "Hi. Who are you?"

Buffy answers her question. "They're friends of Nicholas's. This is Jacob Travers," indicating who Travers is, "and Jeff Giles." She sends a pointed look towards her daughter.

"Oh. Hi. It's nice to meet you, I guess. Mom. You said my name earlier. Did you want something?"

Angel answers, to save Buffy the pain of remembering the prophecy. "No. We just happened to mention your name in conversation."

"OK." Megan is suspicious, but she turns and heads for the kitchen, anyways.


	7. Chapter 6

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Six**

Once Megan leaves, everyone remains silent for a few minutes, as if to make sure it's safe to talk again. Finally, Tara speaks, "Um . . . Were there any more prophecies? I don't mean to be rude, but we should probably know everything before we plan what to do."

Buffy smiles wanly. "It's OK, Tara. You're not being rude. You are right, though."

Jeff responds, "I think there is another prophecy that we haven't dealt with." When he finishes speaking, he looks over at Angel.

Angel had put the photocopied pages down on an end table and subconsciously moved towards Buffy when their daughter had made her unexpected appearance in the doorway. Nicholas is the first to see the pages on the table, and he picks them up.

He flips through them quickly and finds the prophecy they hadn't read yet. "OK. Well, this seems pretty basic."

Cordy gets impatient. "What? What's basic? Just read the prophecy."

Nicholas looks at her amusedly, then complies. "Only a great concentration of faith will avert the end."

Buffy speaks, after calmly listening to everyone else. "So we all have a part in what's going to happen. We all have to work together."

Willow agrees with her. "Sure. I mean, every other apocalyptic situation we've survived, we had to work together. Why would this time be any different?"

Xander speaks, "Yeah. Why would this be any different? But . . ." He looks at Buffy, concerned. 'What are we going to do about Megan? That prophecy was serious. I mean, most of them usually are."

Buffy responds, "We'll have to protect her. Find out a way to keep her home on New Year's Eve."

Anya speaks up, "We could probably get Michael to help. He is her best friend, so he wouldn't want her to get hurt."

Xander interrupts her, "Honey, I think he's a lot like I was in high school." He looks meaningfully at Buffy. She looks back at him, understanding what he's saying. He continues speaking, "I've suspected it for a while, but the close call with the car verified it for me."

Willow looks like she doesn't understand at first. Then, the light bulb clicks on. "Oh!"

Cordy, the only other person in the group who really knew Xander most of their time in high school, speaks, "What are you guys talking about? You were a freak in high school. Michael isn't a freak."

Angel responds to her reaction. "Cor. They're saying Michael likes Megan."

Cordelia gets embarrassed. "Oh. Sorry."

Xander accepts. "It's OK. I knew what you thought of me. You only told me practically every day during high school." He grins.

Everyone goes back to the original line of conversation. Angel comments, "You know, Anya, you may have a good idea there. If we could get him to watch Megan, it certainly would free the rest of us up to fight."

Buffy interrupts this time. "We'll probably have to get Spike involved."

Victoria responds, "I'll tell him if we run into him tonight when Nicholas and I go out to patrol."

Buffy speaks again, "I don't mean to change the subject again, but do you have anywhere to stay?" She directs this question towards Jeff and Travers.

Jeff speaks, "No. We didn't get a chance to stop at a hotel before we came over here."

Buffy continues, "Well, we have one more guest room, or you could use the couches down here. I mean, in either case, I couldn't guarantee someone wouldn't have to sleep on the floor, but we have sleeping bags, and plenty of blankets."

Jeff accepts, "Sure. It would certainly make it easier to deal with the prophecies." He looks at Angel. "Could you show us where you keep your resources?"

"Sure. They're down in the basement." The three men head down to the "library."

* * *

When the Watchers have left the room, following Angel, the others continue talking.

Riley speaks, "Do we know what we're up against?"

Willow responds, "Probably a lot, since we all have to be involved. This is not some little tiny demon that is easy to get rid of."

Xander interrupts, "Like that fear demon? That was actually pretty funny. Well, after the whole "our fears manifesting" thing was over with."

Willow gives him a look. "In any case, I wouldn't worry about Megan today. I don't

think we should ruin their holiday yet."

Gabriella agrees, "Sure. At the earliest, we should discuss it tomorrow, but it doesn't seem to be necessary, yet."

Riley does not seem to want to get off topic that easily. "Hey, guys. What're we going to do about this "forces of darkness" prophecy?"

Buffy replies quickly, "We'll research, possibly do some training, especially for the people who haven't really fought before, and organize something, like we usually do. Hey, maybe we should teach Megan and Michael some defense tactics. Oh, and Will, do you think you could set up some magical protection, and possibly find a way to contact spirits?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Maybe we should get Giles in on this. I mean we figured we'd all have to get involved. Maybe he can help in some way? Besides, I think it'd be nice if he could meet his son."

Tara speaks up, "That would be kinda cool. And, magically, most likely possible."

Victoria stands up. "Nicholas and I are going to go. We'll call later to tell you if we ran into Spike and told him what's up, or if anything seems strange. " They leave after saying their good-byes.


	8. Chapter 7

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Author's note:**This part introduces the villain, Deirdre. She wasn't mentioned in the prologue because I hadn't come up with her yet.

**Part Seven**

Meanwhile, across town in an abandoned building, another fairly new arrival to Sunnydale is listening in on the gang's conversation. Using magical means, she had heard of the prophecies, specifically the one involving Megan.

However, this being is not going to be of any help to our stalwart group of fighters for good. She is a vampire, and her only interest in the prophecy is to gain the power to, basically, end the world. Her name is Deirdre, although most of her followers, except a select few, knew her as the Queen. She had been around since before the Master came into power, and remained "alive" by keeping an extremely low profile.

Before she was sired, she had been a sorceress for the Druids. Therefore, she was at least 1700 years old. She had developed too much power for the Druids' liking, and so she was banished from her village. It was during this exile that she was found by a vampire and sired into darkness. Deirdre did not look very threatening, since she was petite, with light brown curly hair that in certain kinds of light showed silvery-blond highlights, ice blue eyes, and delicate features. Nonetheless, she was a force to be reckoned with, because, along with her vampiric abilities, she had continued refining her magic, so she was almost invincible. Almost.

She had stayed "alive" for as long as she had because she never went out to hunt. She sent her followers out to bring people back for her. Since most of them didn't actually know her name, if they got caught they couldn't give her away. Because of this, the Watcher's Council had almost no information on her.

At present, Deirdre is sitting in what she considered to be her throne room. She is lounging on her throne, wearing a low-cut sleeveless black silk dress. Around her waist is a swathe of ice blue silk embroidered in silver. She always had something on that matched the color of her eyes. She is looking into a mirror, using a scrying technique to spy on Buffy and the others.

Then she is interrupted by a knock on the door. Deirdre puts the mirror down and irritably speaks. "Yes?"

A vampire named Brendan sticks his head politely in. He felt comfortable doing this, since he was her right-hand man. Deirdre delicately arches one eyebrow and looks at him questioningly.

Brendan enters the room and slightly bows his head in respect before speaking. "My lady Deirdre. Your followers wish to know if you have any orders for them."

"Actually, I do. Tell them to go out once the sun sets and see if they can discover what they," indicating the mirror which still shows Buffy and the gang, "were talking about that was so important they needed to call the Slayer. This spell does not allow me to hear them."

"My lady, what if they do find something?"

Deirdre starts getting annoyed. "They tell it to you and you report to me! Oh, and Brendan?"

"Yes, my lady?"

"Have some men watch that traitor Spike's lair. Someone will probably tell him what is going on. It may be our best shot at finding something out."

"Yes, my lady." Brendan bows his head once more and leaves the room. Deirdre resumes watching the gang. She notices the pages containing the prophecies on the table.

She gives a command to the mirror. "Go closer to those pages." The spell complies, and zooms in. The prophecy about Megan is on top. Deirdre reads it quickly and then stops the spell. She puts the mirror down. "So the daughter of the ex-Slayer will hold power. If I can access it, I could use it to bring the Old Ones back." She gets up and goes to the spell books she has and starts looking.

* * *

Back at the Summers residence, the unofficial meeting is pretty much over. Willow and Tara stand up.

"We're going to go. I'll research to find if spells exist for what we want to do, and if I find anything, I'll call."

"OK. Thanks, Will."

"Buffy, are you sure you will be alright?"

"Yes, Willow. Go. Find the stuff we need. I have other people here and you know Angel will take care of me."

"Yeah. I guess you do have a point there. So, I'll call if I find anything."

"If? Willow, you will find something. I know you."

Willow laughs. "Yes, you do. I'll see you later." She and Tara leave.

Minutes later, Angel returns upstairs. "Where are Nicholas and Vicky? Did they leave?"

Cordelia answers. "Yes. So did Willow and Tara. How's it going with the Council guys?"

"OK. They're downstairs looking at some of our books. I don't think they realized how much Buffy and I actually have."

Buffy laughs. "How much we have? I almost never look at those books. They're more yours than mine."

Riley and Gabriella speak up. Riley says, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I think we're going to head out, too."

Gaby looks apologetic. "I have a case I need to look over. But we'll come back tomorrow, if you need us to."

Buffy responds. "Yeah. Come over tomorrow. Hopefully we'll have something more by then. In any case, we should probably do some training. Most likely there will be some fighting ahead."

Riley answers, "OK. We'll see you tomorrow." They head out the door.

Wesley finally speaks. "I think I'll go as well. Maybe I can assist Willow in looking for some information. Give my regards to the Council representatives." He gets up, aware of his awkward comment, and leaves.

Buffy's hostess skills kick in. "Is anyone hungry? I mean, we should probably eat something. Xander, do you guys want to stay here for a while?"

Angel walks over and puts a hand on her shoulder. "Hon, you're babbling. Although we should probably think about dinner."

Buffy looks up at him. "Sorry."

Chris speaks. "We could order something out. It would be the easiest with the amount of people that are here."

Oz agrees with him. "We could get a couple pizzas or something. Why don't we ask the Council guys downstairs if they're hungry?"

Buffy stands up. "I'll go." She heads down to the basement. After a few minutes, she returns. "They said they weren't really hungry but we were welcome to eat."

Gunn speaks up. "Then why don't we order a few pizzas?"

Xander agrees and after silently asking permission, goes to the phone and orders.


	9. Chapter 8

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Eight**

The graveyard, later that night:

Three of Deirdre's minions wander among the graves and mausoleums. One speaks, "Do either of you know which crypt is Spike's? We don't want to disappoint the Queen."

"Nope."

"Not really. I don't know which one, specifically, but I know the general area. Brendan informed me before we left."

The first vamp responds, "OK. We should probably split up when we get there anyway. How close are we to the general area?"

"I think it's one of those two." The vamp points towards two crypts close together.

The first vamp, who apparently sees himself as the leader, gives an order. "Great. Split up and find a place to hide where you can watch the doorways. If you see anyone go in or out, follow them. Don't get caught."

Another voice speaks from behind them. "Well, well. What do we have here? Looks like some spies."

They spin around to see Spike standing a few feet behind them. He continues talking, almost conversationally. "Wouldn't be thinkin' of trying to attack me, would ya? You don't look smart enough. Who told you to do this?"

One vamp responds, impetuously. "Why should we tell you?"

In the space of time that the other two glare at him, Spike has closed the distance between them and is choking him with one hand. "Because maybe then you'll be left alive."

The other two try to rush Spike. He kicks out to the side, catching one in the midsection. The other manages to get a hold on Spike but is quickly thrown off. By now, the one he was choking has started struggling madly. Spike picks him up and throws him toward the one he had kicked, who has recovered. Both go down in a pile.

The third vamp tries to jump on his back. Spike hears his approach and turns before the vamp gets to him. "Ah ah ah. That's not polite." A brief flurry of kicks and punches is exchanged. When the metaphorical dust clears, the vamp is flat on his back on the ground, with Spike straddling him and a tree branch aimed at his heart. Spike speaks again, calmly. "Now let's try this again. Who sent you?"

The vamp says, frightened, "The Queen would have me killed."

"The Queen, eh? She's not who you should fear." Spike stakes him, and stands up. He addresses the other two vamps. "Go back. Tell her that she better not send anyone else to watch me, or I'll track her down and kill her myself." The two run off.

Spike continues toward his crypt. He contemplates the information he has just received. "The Queen. In Sunnydale. I always thought she was just a myth."

Shortly after he gets inside and comfortable, the door opens. Spike looks up. "Slayer."

Victoria walks in, calmly. She gets right to the point of her business there. "Something's up. Prophecy about the apocalypse and a couple others. I told Buffy I'd let you know." She smoothly turns around and leaves.

"OK then. Nice seeing you, too." Spike goes back to watching television, but the announcement stays in the back of his mind. In a few minutes, he switches the set off, unable to concentrate on what he was watching. "What was that about? I guess it'll have to wait 'til tomorrow. It's too late to go see Buffy to ask what the Slayer meant."

* * *

The next morning, Buffy is woken up by the phone. She slowly picks it up. "Hello?"

"Hi, Buffy. It's Willow."

"You're entirely too energetic for this hour of the morning."

"Oh, did I wake you up? Sorry. I never went to sleep. Spent the night researching. I found a couple spells. If you want, I could come over and tell you about them. Later, of course, not right now."

"Thanks. Come around eleven. I figured I'd get everyone together and start training today, anyway."

"OK. I'll tell the guys over here. Bye."

"Bye." Buffy hangs up.

Angel turns over and looks at her. "Who was that?"

"Willow. She spent all night researching and wanted to tell me she found some spells we may be able to use."

"Well, at this point, we're both awake. We may as well get up."

They go downstairs to the kitchen. Angel starts making coffee. Buffy sits down at the table. A minute later, she thinks of something. "I hope the phone didn't wake the kids."

"Why don't you go check. It'll be a few minutes before we have coffee."

Buffy goes back upstairs. A few seconds after she leaves, Jeff comes in from the family room. Angel asks him, "How was the couch? You sorry Jacob claimed the last guest room yet?"

"Surprisingly no. Once I fell asleep, I didn't even notice I was on a couch."

"Well, we'll have coffee soon. Buffy went up to check on the kids. I wouldn't be surprised if everyone was down here in a few minutes."

True to word, ten minutes later, everyone was awake. Buffy is back downstairs and suddenly thinks of something. "I should call Nicholas and Victoria. Tell them about starting training today. Nicholas is probably awake by now."

Cordy speaks, "What about Xander?"

"I'm not worried about them. They'll probably be over soon anyway. They spend more time here than at their own apartment, most of the time."

Buffy gets to the phone at the same time as Xander and his family walk in the door. Xander speaks, "Hey, guys. What's up?"

Buffy finishes her conversation with Nicholas on the phone and hangs up. "Not much. Nothing really new since yesterday. Willow found some spells and is bringing them over. I figured we'd start training today." She sees Michael standing at the door. "Hey. I'll go tell Megan that you're here." She heads back upstairs.


	10. Chapter 9

**Title:** The Beginning of a New Age

**Author: **Kristin Hulett

**Summary: **The extended Scooby Gang gets together for the holidays. When two unexpected guests arrive with a series of prophecies, the celebrations are somewhat unceremoniously halted.

**Disclaimer: **I don't claim to own any of the characters established on either Buffy or Angel. Those characters are all the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, etc. However, all characters that are new to this story, the children of Buffy, Angel, Xander and Anya, Christopher Bishop, Gabriella, Victoria, Nicholas, and the representatives from the Watcher's Council, and the concept of this story are mine. In any case, nobody sue me, because it would be pointless. You wouldn't get much.

**Time Period: **2020, about ten years after the end of "Immortal Miracles".

**Part Nine**

Buffy knocks on Megan's bedroom door. "Megan? You awake?"

"Yeah."

"Can I come in?"

"OK."

Buffy walks in to her bedroom. "Michael's downstairs. If you decide to do anything, make sure you're available around 11:00. I decided to train you, so at least you'll be able to better defend yourself."

"OK. Cool."

"OK. So get dressed and I'll tell Michael you'll be ready in a minute." She leaves the room, closing the door behind her, and heads back downstairs.

She tells Michael to wait a few minutes and then goes toward the coffeepot. Halfway there, she is stopped by pounding on the door. She changes direction and opens the door questioningly.

Like a ballistic missile, a blanket-covered figure comes hurtling in. Once inside, Spike removes the smoldering blanket and looks around with his patented slightly disdainful look.

Buffy looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "Spike. What're you here for?"

"I got a little information last night. Other than your little message by Slayer. Thought you might like to hear it."

Angel speaks, "It couldn't wait until nightfall?"

"See, I thought about that. But it's a little too big."

Xander replies, "Big enough to risk being flame-broiled?" His son looks at him somewhat strangely; knowing the new arrival was a vampire, he only knows Spike would combust. He doesn't understand the comment was a joke.

"Yeah, actually. A little birdie told me who may be behind this apocalypse scheme."

Cordy looks up. "'A little birdie'?"

"OK. A vamp sent to spy on me, alright? Stop bein' so literal."

Buffy interrupts, "As much as I enjoy the bickering, can we just get to the point?"

Right now, Megan walks in, heading for food. "Mom, we're gonna go outside for a while." She sees Spike. "Hi Spike." Suddenly, she realizes he's actually standing there, so she grabs her mother's arm and pulls her to the side. She whispers, "Mom, why is Spike in the middle of the kitchen? It's morning."

"It's nothing you need to worry about. He's just going to tell us something. As for it being morning, look at him as suicidal."

Megan seems to accept this. She grabs an orange and Michael, and heads outside.

Buffy turns back to Spike. "You were saying?"

Spike somewhat ignores her. "That was an interesting mother-daughter moment. Wish I had a camera."

Buffy is by now exasperated. "Spike! Stay on topic please?"

"Sure," Spike looks around, as if thinking, "What was I talkin' about again?"

"Who might be behind the latest attempt at an apocalypse."

"Yeah. This guy told me . . ."

Cordy interrupts again. "He 'told you'?"

"Fine. I forced him t'tell me before I helped him get up close and personal with a tree branch. Am I telling this story or what?"

Angel tries to defuse the situation. "He told you what?"

"OK. He said someone called the Queen told him to watch me. If she's the same chick I've heard about, we're gonna be in big trouble."

Buffy looks at Angel, as if needing an explanation. He complies, "It's a legend from way before my time. I think she was associated with the Druids. In any case, she was even older than the Master, and most likely more powerful."

Buffy doesn't seem to accept this. "If she's a legend, how do we know she's real? And why wouldn't anyone have killed her?"

Spike responds. "Come on. You should know better than anyone that most legends are actually true. The reason no one has killed her is because nobody sees her. Other vamps do everything for her."

Oz speaks up. "OK. I think all of us are going to go into the living room. You guys figure this out and get back to us." All the guests head out of the kitchen.

Buffy speaks again. "Fine. My only question now is if we should believe a random vamp. Who's to say he wasn't making up something in the hopes he wouldn't end up dust?"

Spike gets defensive. "Two things to say t'that. One: he was too stupid to come up with a lie. Two: he was scared, and not just of me. He thought he was gonna die even if, for some reason, I let him go."

Buffy contemplates this. "So maybe this 'Queen' person really likes doling out punishment if she doesn't get her way. I guess I'll talk to the rest of the guys, see if we can find any information on her, if any exists."

There is a knock on the door, and Willow sticks her head in. "Hello? We're here."

Buffy turns to the door. "Hey. Come on in. Everyone's in the living room," then, turning back to Spike, "Why don't you go in the basement, at least until it's safe for you to leave."

Willow and the rest of the group from her house walk in. Tara speaks. "Was that Spike?"

"Yeah. He decided to attempt suicide just to give us some information. Let's join up with the rest of the gang and talk about what we know, then I can get Megan and Michael and start training the people that might need it." Buffy leads the way to the living room.


End file.
